News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1887-07-21
KIDNAPPING BY ANIMALS.
WEIRD WOLF-CHILDR AND
THEIR BRITISH INSTINCTS.
Boys that Bark Like Dogs and Ra-
venously Devour Raw Flesh
Heartrending Scenes.

In the early traditions of most nation
we meet with tales of animals sucking
infants who have been exposed through
the jealousy of some tyrant, and wht
afterward became great kings on heroes
| We need only remind our readers o
| Cyrus, the founder of the Persian EN-
| plre, who was saved through the kind
ness OF female dog; and of ROmulul
! and Remus, to whom it was believed
| that a she-wolf had given sustenance
| says Chambers Journal. In most of these
| stories the wolf plays very prominent
| part. It is needless to add that they are
all mere myths, and as such unworthy
of credcnce. But the same cannot bt
said Of the possibility OF child growing
up among wolves, which is suggested il
them. The following facts-the sub
stantial truth of which there is no rea
| son to doubt, since they are related by
| the eminent AnglO-Indian, Sir William
Sleeman-would seem to prove that
such thing is not altogether SO impos
sible as at first may appear.
In the wild glenS through which tie
| river Gumti rushes down into the
Ganges, wolves are still common; and
they frequently carry off children out Of
the towns and villages. The Hindus
are withheld by superstition from kill
ing these animals within the precincts
of their own habitations; for they be-
heve that a village in which even q drop
of VOLTS blood has been shed is doomed
to destruction by fire and sword. Tue
| consequence is that, in spite of the re-
wards offered by the Government for the
heads of these animals, many victims
are still year after year devoured by
wolves in India.
In the town of Sultanpore, Sir Will
lam was shown boy who, in his habits
and his general appearance, bore the
most wonderful resemblance to wolf.
He had been found crawling ON all
fours, in the company of a wolf and her
three cubs which had come down to the
river to drink. Since his capture he
had made repeated attempts to escape.
Cooked meat he rejected with gestures
of adherence; but when he was offered
raw meat he devoured it with avidity.
He would allow dogs to share his m9al;
but if approached by human beings ct
such time he would growl in a threat
ening manner. When he saw children
he would rush at them, bark like fierce
dog and attempt to bite them. The lad
was subsequently received into the
house of Captain Nicholetts, of the First
Dude Infantry Regiment.
Under the kindly care of this gentle
man he lost some of his ferocity and
was broken of his habit of biting. He
also learned to eat cooked food, though
he still continued to prefer raw meat.
He was very fond of bones, which he
would crush like dog. When food was
given to him he would run up to it on
all-fours and devour it greedily, pulling
1t about and tearing it in a wolf-like
fashion. His vOracity was all but I'M
appeasable. He would eat half o lamb
at a meal, wash it down with vast
quantity of buttermilk and then swallow
some clay and small stones Children
OF his own age he would have nothing
to do with; his favorite playfellOws were
a small pariah dog and some jackals.
These animals had to be shot, as they
helped themselves too freely to the food
which had been placed for the boy
Their death did not, however, seem to
give him any concern.
Clothes he could not endure, and he
impatiently tore them off, even in the
severest weather. A mattress stuffed
with cotton was given him to sleep on;
but he tore it up and swallowed the
cotton with his bread. He never spoke
word till few minutes before his
death, which took place in his twelfth
year after, short illness. Just as he
was about to breathe his last some re-
miniscences of his early childhood
seemed to come back to him. He put
his hand to his head, said that it hurt
him, asked for water and then died.
Sir William describes seven other
" wolf-children, the majority of whom
he declares that he had seen with his
own eyes. One of the most remarkable
of these cases is that of boy who in
his third year was carried off by wolf
while his parents were at work in the
fields and who was recovered six years
afterward rs he was going down to the
river to drink with the old wolf and her
young ones. A mole and scar on his
left arm led to his identification. When
Sir William saw this boy he had already
been in some degree tanned. But he
never learned to speak. He refused to
wear clothes. He walked on all-foulB
and preferred raw meat and calrion to
any other kind of food. Frogs, which
the village children caught and threw to
him, he devoured with avidity. At
night he would often run off into the
woods, and ON such occasions his parents
had great difficulty in recovering him.